Men’s water polo
Wins over MIT and No. 12 Harvard lifted top-seeded No. 12 Bruno to the CWPA Northern Division title in this weekend’s tournament at the Katherine Coleman Aquatics Center.
The Bears (23-6, 12-0 CWPA) rolled past the fifth-seeded Engineers (12-13, 5-7) in the first round 15-7, buoyed by 14 saves from Luke Weiser ’17. Will Klein ’16 led the way with a hat trick and was one of nine Bears to score in the match.
It took two overtime periods for Bruno to win its next game, but Tyler Kirchberg ’18 delivered the decisive score in the sudden-death period as Bruno topped the Crimson (19-9, 9-3) for the division title. For Kirchberg, the goal capped a hat trick — a feat Yahel Murvitz-Lahav ’17 also accomplished in the match. After the teams were deadlocked at 10 in regulation, each side scored three goals in the first overtime period before sudden-death play began. Two minutes and 15 seconds later, Kirchberg sealed the deal for the Bears.
The victory earned Bruno the top seed at the CWPA Championship tournament, which will begin Nov. 20.
Swimming and diving
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were downed handily at Yale over the weekend, opening their season on a low note.
Both Yale teams finished third in the Ivy League Championship meet last season, while the Brown women’s and men’s teams finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Just one men’s swimmer came in first place out of the 14 races, as Riley Springman ’18 won the 200-meter butterfly, while the women’s team won three races. Bryce Campanelli ’18 contributed the only win for the Bears in the four total diving events.
The teams look to rebound next Saturday, when they will host UMass.
Equestrian
The equestrian team finished second at the URI IHSA Show in Glades Ferry, Connecticut. The finish dropped Bruno into second place in IHSA Zone 1 Region 1 after five shows.
The Bears have come in first or second in each of their shows this season. But they sit five points behind the Rams in the standings after coming second to them by 14 points this weekend.
Co-captain Alisa Berg ’16, co-captain Kabisa Baughen ’17, Alexa VanHattum ’16 and Samantha Spear ’17 all earned blue ribbons in their respective events.
Bruno will have a shot at reclaiming the top spot Saturday in an IHSA show hosted by UMass Dartmouth and RIC at Roseland Acres in Tiverton.
Volleyball
A pair of road sweeps this weekend sank the volleyball team, which has now lost its last four matches and 12 of its last 14 sets.
The Bears (10-14, 4-8 Ivy) were handled easily in trips to Penn and Princeton, scoring over 20 points in only two of the six games. Bruno has sorely missed Payton Smith ’17, who has not played in any of the team’s past four defeats. In her absence, Sabrina Stillwell ’19 led the team with 14 kills over the weekend. The losses clinched a losing record for the team in both Ivy and overall play.
The Bears will close out their season by hosting Darmouth and Harvard next week.
Women’s tennis
The women’s tennis team hosted the Brown Classic this weekend, as Utah, Arkansas and Boston College visited Providence.
On the competition’s first day, the Bears dropped eight of their 12 matchups against the Razorbacks. But they rebounded to win six of 11 matchups against the Utes Saturday, including each of the top four singles flights.
Youth was served for Bruno, as Alyza Benotto ’18 and Katie Ta ’19 were the only Bears to win both of their matchups. Benotto was the flight two singles player in both matches, while Ta was flight four against Arkansas and flight three against Utah.
The tournament marked the end of Bruno’s fall season. The spring will begin with a scrimmage Jan. 18 at Harvard before opening officially against Penn State in Nashville, Tennessee.
